Kraken Squad's new member
by Grimm48
Summary: Sage is doing a quest in the woods around Astoria by herself and gets surrounded by some ogres. Lucky for her a green haired swordsman is close by. Pairing: Zorro x Sage
1. Chapter 1

Kraken Squad's new member

Sage is doing a quest in the woods around Astoria by herself and gets surrounded by some ogres. Lucky for her a green haired swordsman is close by.

Pairing: Zoro x Sage

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Knight Squad.

* * *

Three weeks before the Knight School of Astoria accepts new students

Sage is walking through the forest surrounding the castle which houses the King of Astoria and the knight school where she is a student. She took a quest from Sir Gareth her instructor as the leader of the Kraken Squad, but only after accepting the quest she learned that none of her three teammates are actually available. Deciding against giving up the quest which would decrease her squad's points she is determined to finish the quest by herself. For the quest she has to gather a rare herb located in the part of the forest which counts as part of the ogre's territory.

"Damn those two useless fools, leaving me to do the quest alone after Buttercup fell ill." Sage curses as she walks through the woods by herself, keeping her spear ready. Sage arrives at a large clearing in the middle of the forest and looks at the map she got from Sir Gareth once more to confirm that she is in the right location.

"Hmm this seems to be the place, which means the herb should be growing somewhere near that tree stump." Sage mumbles to herself, looking at a wide tree stump looking like it had been cut down more than a few years ago.

Sage stores her map and walks over to the stump, looking all around it for the herb Sir Gareth showed her. Not even a minute later she finds the Herb and kneels down, placing her spear on the stump so she can collect the herbs.

Once she's done collecting the herbs she glances up, grabbing for her weapon only to find it missing.

"The Hell?" Sage asks out loud.

"Look what we have here." An Ogre says holding Sage's spear, looking at the girl along with his three comrades.

"What are you doing here girly?" An Ogre next to him asks her.

"I was sent by Sir Gareth to collect these Herbs." Sage informs them proudly, hoping that they've heard of her instructor and fear him for his accomplishments in battle.

"Well you collected the Herbs, but don't think that you'll be leaving here again." The Ogre holding her spear tells her, pointing her weapon down at her from his larger height.

"What?! Let me go or else you'll have to face the wrath of the King of Astoria." Sage yells angered.

"That pathetic crybaby? who would be afraid of him?" Another Ogre asks cockily.

"You dare call our King a pathetic crybaby? Wait till I inform the guards of this!" Sage yells outraged.

"Well it's a good thing then you won't get to return to the castle." The last Ogre says laughing while the second Ogre grabs one of her arms roughly and starts to drag her along on as the Ogre's head back to their camp with their new captive while Sage screams at them angrily, hoping someone will hear her.

* * *

And to her luck someone does.

"What's up with all this commotion can't a guy take a nap in peace?" The group of 5 hear a voice say and look in the direction the voice came from and see a green haired guy with three Katana's on his hip leaning against a tree obviously having slept there.

"It's none of your business, so scam!" An Ogre tells him, walking over to the teen intimidatingly.

"Why should I go? I was sleeping here long before you idiots came along and woke me up." Zoro asks him cockily, unsheathing one of his swords.

"Last chance, run along or I'll give you a beating you won't forget." The Ogre says threateningly.

"Wrong move." Zoro sighs and slashes at the Ogre as he dashes past him, re-sheathing his sword again.

Sage looks at this impressed, now being able to see the boy for the first time since he was blocked by the Ogre that just got taken out.

"Oh, look what we have here, three Ogres attempting to kidnap a girl. You guys really aren't fans of fair fighting are ya?" Zoro says with a smirk.

"You'll pay for that." The two Ogre's who weren't holding Sage yell and jump at the teen, only for him to jump backwards, dodging their attack and unsheathe a second sword. The Ogre's run towards him, while he takes out his third sword, putting it in his mouth and crouches down while crossing his arms. With a shout of "Oni Giri" Zoro cuts up the two Ogre's as he runs by them, appearing behind them as the fall lifelessly to the ground.

"Here, take her just let me go!" The Last Ogre shouts panicking now that his three comrades have been taken out with ease and basically throws Sage over to Zoro, who catches her and then puts her down so she can stand on her own. Once Zoro's arms are free again he curves his swords in front of him and yells 108 Pound Phoenix, slashing them in a circle along with the one between his teeth and sends an attack flying through the air which quickly catches up to the now running Ogre and pierces through him, knocking over a few trees in the process.

Sage who ran over to her spear, lying next to the corpse of one of the two Ogre's the green haired boy took out with his second attack and picks it up, being on guard in case any of the Ogre's will get back up and attack her or if the green haired boy decides to attack her.

"Who are you?" Sage asks him.

"Zoro. Are you OK? Did they hurt you?" Zoro asks her, walking over to her not bothered by her defensive statue.

"No luckily you intervened before that happened." Sage tells him.

"Good. So, who are you and what are you doing out here alone?" Zoro asks her, looking the girl over, thinking once he sees the emblem on her shoulder and clothes 'she's cute but seems like the type who's proud of their nobility.'

"I'm Sage, I was sent here on a quest to fetch these Herbs." Sage tells him showing him the pouch with Herbs she picked up.

"Alone? This isn't exactly the safest part of the forest you know." Zoro tells her.

"Yes, I'm aware of that but my useless teammates bailed on me." Sage replies annoyed at her team.

"And you still came alone? Well at least you have guts." Zoro says somewhat impressed.

"Yeah, well Thanks. I really owe you, are you a citizen in the castle?" Sage asks him, pointing towards the castle raking over the trees.

"No. I'm just wandering through. I'm looking for strong fighters who can challenge me, I want to become the world's strongest swordsman." Zoro tells her proudly.

"Well, you could come by the castle then if you'd like I guess we should have some strong people there, but I have to say you are on a whole other level than the knights I've seen so far." Sage informs him.

"Hmm, I'll keep it in mind." Zoro says and starts to leave the clearing.

"Wait. I've got an idea, why don't you join the knight school like me? I'm sure you'll get to fight strong opponents that way." Sage suggests.

"Are there any requirements?" Zoro asks slightly interested by the idea of officially battling strong enemies.

"Well, you have to pay 2000 gold pieces and be of royal dragon blood, but I could lend you the money and maybe I can find a way to have the king make an exception for you." Sage says wanting to repay him for rescuing her.

"When would I join this knight school?" Zoro asks her.

"The official time for new students to be accepted is in three weeks." Sage informs him.

"three weeks huh?" Zoro says thoughtfully.

"I'll think about it and tell you my decision in three weeks then, Sage." Zoro tells her before he turns around and walks back into the forest.

"If he'd join my squad, we'd so squash Ciara and her Phoenix squad." Sage says excited.

"But first, how do I get the King to make an exception for Zoro?" Sage asks herself as she start to head back to the castle so she can finish her quest.

On the way back to the castle she gets the idea to ask her mother for help since she sometimes used her magic to charm people into doing her bidding, for once that might actually work out in Sage's favor.


	2. Chapter 2

|Three weeks later|

Zoro arrives just before Arc swoops in on the zip line and after Sir Gareth's speech and the introduction of the phoenix squad he is dealing with the two boys' enrollment in knightschool.

"Paid the fee? Check. Good with a sword? Check. Looks like a knight? Alright close enough." Sir Gareth says finishing Arc's enrollment after he gave Sir Gareth the 2000 gold, he got by stealing one of the Princesses tiaras.

"Alright, am I in or am I so in?" Arc asks enthusiastically.

"Oh you are so in, welcome to knight school." Sir Gareth says and Arc goes over to the Phoenix Squad, having been recruited by them.

"Alright, next one. Zoro. Paid the fee? Check. Good with a sword? Check, Check, Check. Looks like a knight? Meh, I'll allow it." Sir Gareth says going through his list.

"Thanks?" Zoro says.

"Alright, welcome to knight school. I'm sorry to say this but at the moment there is no free spot on any other Squad so you'll have to wait until someone drops out or we have enough members for a new Squad." Sir Gareth tells him.

"I see." Zoro replies thoughtfully, having assumed that Sage wanted her on his squad and would have pulled some strings, like she did with the King apparently since Sir Gareth knew he'd come.

In that moment Kraipan, a member of the knight Squad runs past the two, looking scared and throws his shoulder guard to the floor while yelling "I'm out!"

"Alright, it's your lucky day. Here, you're on Kraken Squad." Sir Gareth tells him, shoving the shoulder guard with the Kraken symbol over with his foot and points at Sage and her two remaining teammates.

"OK." Zoro says with a shrug and picks up the Shoulder guard and goes over to Sage and her group.

"Nice to see you again. I'm glad to see you've decided to join after all." Sage says giving Zoro a handshake while her perky best friend waves at him happily saying "I'm buttercup."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Zoro." He tells her and Lucky, the remaining teammate after shaking Sage's hand.

"Lucky." The other teen replies with a nod.

"Ah you don't need to remember his name. He's not important. Especially now that we have you on board." Sage tells Zoro excitedly and rubs her hands deviously.

"Hey!" Lucky says hurt.

"Ah as if I'm not telling the truth." Sage replies.

"You're right." Lucky agrees and neels down on the floor, hugging his knees.

"So is this the guy you met in the forest?" Buttercup asks Sage over excitedly.

"Yes." Sage tells her friend with a sigh since this is the 4th time she's asked her this after Zoro and Arc appeared on the courtyard.

"Hey, do I need to wear this thing?" Zoro asks Sage holding up the Shoulder guard.

"I don't know, no one's ever not worn it." Sage replies.

"Meh, I don't need it, its too restricting." Zoro tells her. If I need the banner somewhere, put it on this." Zoro tells them, pointing at his black bandana, wrapped around his arm.

"Alright, I'll take care of it." Sage says, taking the bandana off the green haired boy.

"Ohh, what is this. Sage is doing the laundry for her team now? Scared another member of your team will leave?" Ciara asks the spear wielding girl.

"Scam Ciara. This is not your concern, but I guess it doesn't matter, cause with our new member we'll flatten you guys." Sage tells her confidently.

"Hah, we'll see about that." Ciara replies decidedly, having grown confident because Arc seems to be skilled.

"Now Gather Squads. I'll need one squad to volunteer to help with today's lesson." Sir Gareth says and everyone gathers around the small stage with their squads.

"Watch this." Sage tells Zoro with a smirk and goes behind Warwick and yells "BOO!" making the squirmy teen jump with his arms in the air.

"Phoenix Squad. I'll take your pathetic and childlike screams like a yes." Sir Gareth says.

"Too easy." Sage says laughing as she goes back to her Squad.

"What was that about?" Zoro asks.

"Phoenix Squad and our Squad have a long rivalry going." Sage tells him.

"Today you will learn that danger lurks where you least expect it." Sir Gareth informs them and activates a stone guard in the court who then approaches the Phoenix Saud, readying his weapon.

"Guys, that Statue just came to live and he looks like a meanie." Prudy says.

"We can take him. Draw your swords." Ciara says readying her weapon, but Arc stops her.

"That is a stone warrior, swords don't work on them. I got this."

"But we are a team." Ciara tells him.

"Shhh. Let the boy do his thing." Warwick tells her scared by the stone creature.

Arc and the stone warrior then start to fight, with the stone warrior swinging his lance at Arc, who dodges him until he gets an idea and lures him over to the cliff-side of the courtyard and grabs the attacking stone warriors lance to throw him over the cliff while saying "Time for you to meet my friend Cliff."

"Cliff! Hahaha. Because you threw him off a cliff. Extra credit for heroic wordplay." Sir Gareth tells Arc, coming over to him with the phoenix squad.

"Your Squad can now select a bonus Quest." Sir Gareth tells them, going over to a crystal construct and pressing a crystal, opening a list of three Quests on the board behind the stage.

"Yeah. Sweet. A bonus quest. I'd be more excited if I knew what that was." Arc tells his new teammates.

"It's a chance to get extra points, which we desperately need." Ciara explains.  
"But we're in last place. If we fail the quest, we'll be kicked out of knight school." Prudy explains.

"Well, let's do an easy one." Arc suggests.

"What's the quest of the golden dagger?" He asks reading the first quests name.

"It's just the hardest one. Your Squad must retrieve my golden dagger from the mighty beast who stole it, he also stole my left hand. This one's metal. So is my left butcheek." Sir Gareth tells them, slapping the metal hand to his butt.

"Now we just have to pick a quest until the end of the day." Prudy says excitedly.

"If you make it until the end of the day that is a phoenix squad new guy record." Ciara tells him, patting his shoulder.

"That's strange. The princess has that exact same ring." Arc says pointing at Ciara's ring.

"She's a princess. She has things, that's what they do they have things." Ciara tells him rushing through the answer and then runs away as Arc asks "OK, why are you being so weird?" Arc then follows her as she runs into the Princesses chambers and confronts her about her being the princess.

Ciara also then catches him for not being a dragonblood and they decide to keep each other's secrets.

After this the two meet up with Prudy and Warwick and the four go to the Tasty Trunk to get to know eachother better.

* * *

While this was happening Zoro was getting to know Sage and Buttercup.

"So, this Sir Gareth is our teacher?" Zoro asks Sage, not impressed by his appearance.

"Yes. Don't let his attitude fool you. He's actually an accomplished knight and a strong force in the battle against Riker." Sage informs him.

"Well, I know better than to judge a book by its cover." Zoro replies.

"Anyway, Squad. Now that we have a new member I think we should show each one's fighting style and abilities." Sage says as their leader, while the remaining Squad leaves just after the Phoenix Squad took off and their instructor is also not around.

"I'll start." She says and readies her spear while Lucky fetches a training dummy.

Sage then attacks it with her spear and hidden throwing knifes and shows her techniques.

Buttercup then shows her techniques with her bo-staff, followed by Lucky who fights with a sword and shield.

"It's your turn." Sage says patting Zoro's back.

"Yeah, but don't you have a stronger target?" Zoro asks her.  
"There are stone and metal dummies in the armory, but generally we never get them because they're too heavy and would need at least one squad to get." Sage tells him, pointing at the building Lucky just got the wodden dummy from.

"Alright, give me a second." Zoro replies and goes into the building. While he's in there the three Kraken Squad member hear loud a loud rumbling before it grows quiet again.

Moments later Zoro comes out of the building, the steel dummy weighing at least 400 pounds over his shoulder, leaving his teammates look at him stupefied, Sage less so because she knew he was strong, she just didn't guess that he was this Strong.

"Done." Zoro says putting down the steel target. He then takes his three swords, readying himself and attacks the target viciously, using oni giri, 108 pound phoenix, rashamon as well as other techniques on it, leaving visible gashes all over the dummy, causing Lucky to faint and Buttercup to look fascinated while Sage is grinning to herself, assured of their dominance over the Phoenix Squad with Zoro on her team.

"Did he just pass out?" Zoro asks, sheathing his swords as he walks over to the two girls.

"This is the first time we've seen someone do so much damage on this. Usually the only ones able to do any visible damage are some of the knights returning from the frontlines and Sir Gareth or a magician." Sage tells him.

"I thought you said there are strong people here." Zoro asks her, looking at her disappointed.

"there are. Just not now. Many are fighting on the frontline against Riker, but they return regularly and once we graduate we'll join them on the frontline." Sage tells him.

"OK then." Zoro says accepting this.

"I guess staying in one place won't be so bad, though I'll still have to find a place to stay." Zoro tells them with a sigh and rubs his neck thoughtfully.

"Oh, you can stay with me. It'll be a little cramped but that's OK." Buttercup offers enthusiastically, excited at having a new friend. One that Sage seems to accept.

"Thanks, but I'll figure something out. I have enough money, I just need to find some place." He tells them.

"For now you could stay in our Squad room, if you don't mind our mascot that is." Sage suggests.

"Sounds Good to me." Zoro agrees.

"OK, but first we'll need to accept you into the Squad." Sage says and Buttercup runs off, yelling "I'll get it!" along her way.

"So, now that we're somewhat alone, why did you ask me to join the knightschool?" Zoro asks the raven-haired girl, as they go over to the ledge, overlooking the cliff.

"I just thought you'd be a good asset to our Squad and someday to our kingdom." Sage tells him.

"I see, by the way what about the dragonblood business?" He asks.

"Oh that, The King vouched for you but he doesn't know himself that you're not a dragonblood, so just don't mention it and you should be fine." Sage informs him.

"OK, I'll remember that." He agrees.

"Can I ask you a question?" Sage asks, getting a nod from him in response.

"How did you become so strong? I train everyday, but there is still this much of a distance between us." Sage asks him.

"Maybe it's because I had to fend for myself for a long time. My family and village was destroyed by the first wave of Riker's army and I've been on my own for over ten years now." Zoro tells her.

"What, you must have been 6." Sage says shocked.

"Seems about right." Zoro agrees.

"Well anyways, I went around wandering the world and the first village I came to was a giant's village. They took me in for a while and I tried to help out as much as I could, I guess that's why I'm stronger than most. And from there on when I was I think 12 or so I made my living by bounty hunting and hunting for food." He tells her.

"Wow. I'm sorry I was a bit jealous of you earlier, I thought you just had it given to you, like prudy by being a quarter giant." Sage tells him apologetically.

"It's alright, you couldn't have known. We only met once before afterall." He replies with a small smile.

"Yeah, thanks again for saving me that time. I was too careless." Sage says.

"True, but we learn best from mistakes." Zoro tells her wisely.

The two of them then get interrupted by Buttercup running over, carrying a bucket and splashing water all over the place.

"Butt, slow down." Sage tells the girl running into the courtyard.

"Here, I got it." Buttercup says proudly, putting down the bucket.

Sage takes a bit of water from the bucket and splashes Lucky with it while Sage laughs out her trademark "Hah!"

Lucky gets up grumpily, while staring at Zoro with admiration and disbelieve.

"So what's up with the bucket?" Zoro asks them as they stand around it, while keeping Zoro a few feet away, just far enough so he can't look in.

"You'll know in a second, this is our acceptance ritual, but can you give me your swords first?" Sage asks him, holding out her hands.

"Normally I'd beat the crap out of anyone asking for my swords but I like you, here." Zoro tells her, making Sage smile gratefully with her cheeks reddening slightly, because that's the first time a boy told her that he liked her.

"Thanks, now stand by the bucket." Sage tells him.

Zoro goes over to the bucket and looks down as a enormous Oktopus tentacle shoots out, intending to hit Zoro in the face but Zoro stares down into the bucket, seeing the creature through the magic portal connecting the bucket to where ever the creature is and stares into its eyes.

The tentacle stops infront of his face and slowly lowers itself and instead reaches for his hand, shaking it.

"Wow, that's a first. Everyone of us got hit in the face." Sage tells Zoro, peeking over his shoulder and another tentacle shoots up, intending to hit her in the face but Zoro catches it before Sage gets hit.

"Why exactly do you have a portal to an Oktopus?" Zoro asks, letting the other tentacle go and it pats Sage's head instead of hitting her.

"It's our mascot." Buttercup says excitedly.

"You mean I'll be sharing a room with an octopus?" Zoro asks shocked, while the tentacle he was shaking is circling around his arm as if it played with him.

"Kinda." Sage tells him.

"OK, wouldn't be the weirdest place I've slept in." Zoro agrees with a shrug.

"Where did you get an Octopus anyways?" Zoro asks them.

"Oh, we found it at the lake a few hundred miles east from here and it looked really cool, because it has a scar over its left eye and Butt and I thought that it'd be the perfect animal for our Squad, so we asked Hogencraft, a wizard who was with us there to get it back to the knight school." Sage replies.

"Hmm, left eye you said and a few hundred miles that way." Zoro says thoughtfully, pointing in a totally wrong direction.

"East is that way." Lucky tells him.

"Well, I can't be sure but I may know this Octopus, that would explain this at least." Zoro says holding up his hand hand the Octopus high fives him.

"Wait what? How do you know an Octopus?" Sage asks shocked.

"I saved one from an enormous shark but it got hurt on its left eye, so it could be the same one." Zoro explains.

"Well, with you I wouldn't doubt it. Anyways, lets go celebrate our new team member." Sage announces.

"You go bring Octi's portal back to the club room." Sage tells Lucky and leaves with Buttercup and Zoro, pulling him along by his hand while Buttercup bounces around them happily.

* * *

"Well hello there, team last place." Sage taunts the Phoenix Squad once she sees them in the Tasty Trunk.

"Oh, hi I'm Sage. The nicest girl in knight school." Sage tells Arc.

"Yeah. You're not creepy at all." Arc says.

"I'm Buttercup." Buttercup says.

"Quiet Butt. So, have you guys figured out what Quest you're gonna fail?" Sage asks.

"Sage you're just jealous that our Squad is lit, now that we have Arc." Ciara says challengingly.

"Hah. Well if you're so lit then why don't you take on the golden dagger Quest? Unless you're scared." Sage asks making everyone other than Buttercup and Zoro gasp.

"Beathe Ciaca, don't let her send you into a Sage-Rage." Prudy tells her best friend.

"Oh come on. I thought you were the phoenix Squad, not the chicken Squad." Sage taunts them further.

"You know what? We're the Pheonix Squad and we're gonna get that golden dagger. That's right, I said it." Ciara tells Sage.

"Oh no, I said it." Ciara says going to Trudy.

"You sure did and when you fail, you're going to get kicked out of knight school. Oh I'm gonna miss you guys, just kidding. You're the worst!" Sage says and goes away.

"It's my birthday." Buttercup says with a laugh and Sage goes back to pull her along, with Zoro following them, giving the others a lazy wave.

"Guys, I know the Phoenix Squad has been in a toilet…" Arc says and Warwick asks "Wait, who told him about that? Oh, not what you're talking about. Continue."

"Maybe we can defeat the beast with sweet moves like this." Arc tells them and does a backwards flip while yelling out "Whatsow."

"Whatsow? Arc's the thief." Ciara says quietly to herself, recognizing the expression from the guy who stole her tiara.

"Yeah he is, he stole my flip move." Warwick says.

* * *

While the Phoenix Squad is planning for their upcoming quest Sage and Buttercup show Zoro to their Squad room.

"And here we are, welcome to Poseidon's temple." Sage says opening the door to their room.

"You really stuck with the whole Kraken and water theme huh?" Zoro says slightly amused and follows the two girls into the room.

In the room there is a table with a few chairs around it, a bookshelf and a weapons shelf. There are also two couches facing eachother with a small table in between and the wall opposed to the entrance is a window to their mascot, the Giant Octopus, whose main body can be seen through the glass, with its tentacles not being visible. The Octopus is actually kept in an old lake which is not assessable anymore because of a landslide.

"Looks nice. Not really a fan of the colors but I'll get used to it." Zoro tells them looking around the room.

"It's mostly used by me and Butt anyways, the other two members usually don't stay too long." Sage tells him.

"Oh, I wonder why." Zoro says sarcastically, giving Sage a knowing look.

"Hey it's not my fault they were losers, or that they didn't like to be told the truth." Sage says.

Zoro only grunts in reply with a small smirk on his face and flops down onto one of the couches, laying down on it while Sage and Buttercup sit down next to each other on the opposite couch.

"So anything else I should know about?" Zoro asks them, turning his head towards them while putting his swords leaned against the small table.

"Not at the moment, no." Sage says.

"It's my birthday." Buttercup points out in glee.

"Hah, hmm wait a second." Zoro tells her and rummages through one of his pants pockets, getting out a small bag.

"What's the use of a bag that sitze?" Sage asks with a scoff.

Zoro only ignores her, sits up and pulls on a small string, causing the bag to expand to the size of his torso.

"Hmmm." Zoro says looking through his bag, only stopping to stick his tongue out at Sage, who was looking at the bag with wonder.

"Ah there it is." Zoro says, pulling on something and gets out three arm long metal bars, kept in a case.

"What is it?" Sage asks looking at it with interest, since Zoro's bag was a magic item, maybe the three bars are too.

"Here. Happy birthday teammate." Zoro tells Buttercup, throwing the case to her.

"Ohh. Chair legs." Buttercups says excited.

"Are you for real?" Zoro asks her, nearly face faulting.

"Believe me, she is. You'll get used to it." Sage tells him, giving him a mile, happy to see that he cares about them despite only knowing them for a day.

Zoro looks at her for a moment, thinking to himself 'she is cute, if she's not torturing people at least' before getting his focus back on Buttercup.

"Alright, hand them to me. I think it's best I show you what they do." Zoro tells the happy girl and takes the box back. He opens it and takes out the three bars and throws them into the air, yelling "assemble." And much to the girls surprise the three bars connect and come together to a staff, not even having any knotches where they combined.

"Wow." Buttercup says stunned.

"Here, it's yours now. I'm not any good with the staff either way." Zoro tells her, giving the brunette a small smile.

"Thank you." She says giddily and hugs the staff, after taking it out of Zoro's hand.

"Alright, there is one thing you still have to do before using it." Zoro tells her, and motions for her to come over to him and look at the box.

"See this medallion? You have to put your hand over it and say the inscription here to become the new owner." Zoro tells her, pointing at the respective spots.

Buttercup does as instructed and afterwards looks at the staff intensely, expecting something amazing to happen.

"Alright, give it to me." Zoro tells her, holding his hand out to her.

"What? No, I just got him." Buttercup says disappointed.  
"You're getting it back, I'm just checking if the ownership spell worked." Zoro tells her and gets handed the staff.

"Disassemble." He says loudly, but nothing happens.

"Here you try." Zoro tells her, throwing her the Staff.

"Disassemble." Buttercups says, catching it and in the next moment she has the three metal bars in her hands.

"Cool. Assemble. Disassemble." Buttercup says trying out the function, shifting her voice up and down to see if it works, making Sage shake her head with a laugh.

"Buttercup. Two more things. First keep the box safe otherwise whoever has is can steal the staff from you. Secondly you can also wear this holster on your hip or leg or wherever and the disassembled staff will automatically go into these slots and stay there until assembled." Zoro informs her, giving her the holster.

"Wow, thanks." Buttercup says happily and jumps at Zoro, giving him a big hug. Zoro doesn't know how to react and pats the girls back weakly, while looking at Sage with confusion. Sage for some reason looks at the scene with some annoyance building up inside her.

"Alright. That's enough, let's go Buttercup." Sage tells her bestfriend already walking to the door with angry strides, who immediately follows her friend and waves goodbye to Zoro.

Once the two girls are gone Zoro decides to leave his magic bag hidden in the bookshelf, near the portal to the Octopus tentacle and tells the Octopus, who apparently is fond of him "Keep it safe buddy." The Octopus scoots back a bit from the window and gives him a salute with his tentacle, making Zoro shake his head at the animal, amused by its behavior.

Zoro then goes to look around the castle and maybe take a nap at the school, the cliff seemed like a good place to nap for Zoro.

* * *

|Later that day|

Arc meets up with Ciara after readying his equipment for the quest.

Ciara then accuses him of being the thief who stole her Tiara and Arc apolozies, explaining that he had to do it to get into knight school.

Ciara tells him that she doesn't trust him and that without trust he can't be part of the Phoenix Squad.

Ciara then meets up with Prudy and Warwick and the three of them go to the cave where the beast from their quest is. Prudy and Warwick both disagree and say they should wait for Arc but Ciara tells them that he'll be quitting knight school.

Meanwhile Sage and Buttercup also arrive, intending to sabotage their quest to insure the phoenix squad's failure.

Sage gets the noise fairies Buttercup got and realeases them only for the fairies to fly into Prudy's nose.

"Buttercup. This Jar says nose fairies not noise fairies." Sage tells her best friend annoyed, both at her mistake and because of how chummy she got with Zoro for some reason.

"That explains why they were on sale." Buttercup says, not realizing her friends' anger.

Prudy then sneezes, causing a small earthquake because she's a quarter giant.

A groaning then comes out of the cave and a small, orange skinned pointy eared creature comes out of the cave, carrying a shield and a dagger.

The creature then chases the three from Phoenix Squad around a boulder while Sage and Buttercup watch from a safe distance.

Meanwhile at the Tasty Trunk Arc is telling Sir Gareth that the Phoenix Squad kicked him out because they don't trust him anymore. Sir Gareth then tells him that Ciara will not forgive him if he doesn't give her a reason to and that a true knight never quits on his squad.

After his conversation with their instructor Arc leaves the restaurant and decides to help his teammates, regardless if they trust him or not.  
On his way to the Quest he stops at the training yard and sees the only student there is Zoro, who is looking around sleepily.

"Hey, have you seen my squad?" Arc asks the green haired teen.

"Phoenix Squad?" He asks, blinking still half asleep.

"Yeah." Arc says.  
"That's the one with the quarter giant right?" He asks with a yawn.

"Yeah." Arc answers.

"I heard her sneeze somewhere that way." Zoro tells him, pointing at a random direction.

"You mean that way right? That's where the quest is." Arc asks him pointing towards the cave where the golden dagger quest is.

"Man I don't know, am I your guide? All I can say I heard her sneeze and it did not come out of the castle." Zoro tells him grumpily.

"OK, thanks." Arc says and runs to where his friends must have gone.  
"Hey, wait up. I'll come along, I need to stretch my legs anyways and don't have anything better to do." Zoro says catching up to him.

Arc ponders if he should stop him, seeing as Zoro is from a different Squad, but decides against it and lets the green-haired teen follow him through the woods.

When the two of them arrive, Arc tells Zoro to stay out of the fight and Zoro only shrugs his shoulder, sitting down against a tree, from where he can see the clearing the Phoenix Squad is in.

Arc jumps down to his friends and kicks away the small creature, while his squad was sitting against a stone, defeated and disarmed.

"You came back?" Ciara asks him surprised.

"Well a true knight never gives up on their squad." Arc tells them.

"Warwick, you're the fastest. Get back to class and tell them we're coming back with the dagger.

"No problem guys you can count on me." Warwick says and runs off.

"He's totally going the wrong way." Prudy says going after her teammate.

"So, since I saved you and all, think I can have a second chance?" Arc asks Ciara.

"This isn't the time to talk about it." Ciara tells him.

"What are you still mad at me?" Arc asks.

"I'm mostly disappointed. He's mad." Ciara tells him, pointing at the creature behind Arc, who growls at them loudly.

Ciara and arc try to intimidate the small creature, only for it to spew a stream of fire at them. The two dodge the fire just in time and get behind the boulder while the creature continues to spew fire at them.

Arc then comes up with a plan and Ciara steps out from behind the boulder, having changed into the princess and challenges the small creature to a dance battle, dancing in front of it. The creature soon joins in and Arc sneaks up from behind, kicking it forward, towards Ciara, who then kicks the creature away, back into its cave. The two of them then pick up the dagger the creature dropped and leave quickly, because the creature is coming back out of its cave.

* * *

Sage and Buttercup, get out of their hiding spot, hearing the fighting stop and see Ciara and Arc leave the area with the dagger.

"Aw shoot, they got the dagger, now they won't get kicked out." Sage curses.

"Uhh Sage, we might have a problem." Buttercup says nervously, seeing the creature re-emerge from the cave.

"Yeah I know but one way or another we'll beat that chicken squad." Sage tells her.

"No, I mean another problem." Buttercup says and turns her friend around so she can see the creature approach them.

"So, it's a gnome. We can take it." Sage tells her best friend, readying her spear while Buttercup gets out her wooden staff.

The creature then spews fire at them and the two girls look in horror, not able to react in time when suddenly Zoro shoots out of some bushes and pushes Buttercup to the side, while throwing Sage over, covering her, but gets hit by the fire on his back.

"Zoro? What are you doing here?" Sage asks surprised, but is glad he's there.

"Never mind that. Take Buttercup and run, I'll handle the dwarf reject." Zoro orders.

"OK, but be careful." She tells him and runs over to Buttercup, helping the girl up and running into the woods with her.

"Alright wrinkle face, looks like we have a stand off. You don't have a dagger anymore and I can't use my swords because you'll melt them, so how about we do this the old fashioned way?" Zoro asks it and cracks his knuckles.

The creature throws away its shield and motions for Zoro to attack. Zoro then charges at it and the two trade blows for a while until Zoro manages to knock it out with a kick to its face.

He then gets out his Katana and beheads it, hoping it'll fetch a decend bounty, seeing at the danger it posed.

Zoro then makes his way back to the knight school by following Sage's and Buttercups trail, knowing the others will have assembled there.

* * *

|knight school|

Ciara and Arc arrive on the courtyard via zipline and hand Sir Gareth the dagger.

Phoenix Squad, you have aced the quest." Sir Gareth tells them.

"We worked so hard to eliminate them and now they are right back in it, and that creature almost fried us." Sage curses upon seeing their instructor give the Phoenix Squad credit.

"What about Zoro? Should we get someone to help him?" Buttercup asks, making Sage think about it for a bit before saying "No, he can handle that twerp."

"Yeah, it's been a while since the last time I couldn't use my swords though." Zoro says arriving behind the two.

"Zoro!" Buttercup says happily, gloping onto the greenhaired teen, who grunts slightly at the hug, due to his burn on his back and a few bruises here and there.

"You OK?" Sage asks him, pulling her friend off Zoro.

"I'll manage." Zoro replies.

"Now, where is Sir Gareth? I want to see if the sucker who took his left hand got a bounty on its head." Zoro asks them, showing them the head of the small creature, they just escaped from.

"What? You defeated that little devil?" Sir Gareth asks shocked, having heard him and rushes over to the three.

"It's him, no doubt. This little devil caused me so much suffering. Kraken Squad gets extra bonus credit." Sir Gareth announces, taking the head from Zoro.

"Is there a cash reward on it by any chance?" Zoro asks.

"There sure is, I'll give it to you in a few days once I've informed the King of this delightful development." Sir Gareth tells him and leaves.

"Are you sure you're going to be OK?" Sage asks him concerned.

"Yeah, nothing a few hours of sleep won't fix." Zoro tells her with a yawn and goes past them to head to their club room and lay down. When Zoro walks past them the two girls see the burn over his lower back and gasp in shock.

"Zoro, your back." Buttercup says, sounding serious for the first time he's met her.

"Huh? Ah that. Better this than Sage-kebab right?" Zoro tells them, laughing at his own joke and continue to head to their clubroom, with the two girls following him.

"Buttercup, I've got it from here. I think you should get some sleep, it's getting late." Sage tells her best friend, who only shrugs and says "OK." Skipping out of their clubroom.

"Zoro, maybe you should get that looked at." Sage tells him concerned, as the teen lies down on his side on one of the couches.

"Ah, that's a waste of time." Zoro grumbles.

"Zoro." Sage insists.

"Look, I never needed a doctor before and I sure don't intend to start now." Zoro replies grumpily.

"At least let me take a look at it." Sage says.

"Alright, if you'll let me sleep in peace afterwards." Zoro agrees and sits up, taking off his half burned shirt, revealing his muscular torso to the raven-haired girl.

"The bruises don't seem to be that bad." Sage says, sliding her hand over his front gently, to look at the bruises.

Sage then gets behind the couch to look at his back and gets a cream from one of the shelves, which is good for burns.

"I'm going to put some cream on it, which will help you heal faster." Sage tells him, with her cheek now flushed at their contact.

"Do what you want." Zoro replies, staying levelheaded, while secretly enjoying the touch of Sage's fingers on his skin and thinks 'Maybe I didn't stay only for the chance to meet strong opponents'

Sage then rubs the cream onto his back. Once she's done she sits down next to him and says "I'm sorry you got hurt because I was distracted." Sage tells him guiltily.

"Don't worry, it happens to the best of us and I could have easily shoved you aside and covered Buttercup, actually that would have probably been safer." Zoro tells her.

"Why didn't you then? I mean you and Buttercup seemed to hit it off before." Sage asks surprised.

"Buttercup is nice and I didn't want her to get hurt but somehow I felt like I needed to know you won't get hurt." Zoro tells her honestly.

Sage smiles a little at that.

"I think you deserve some rest now. Thank you for saving me, again." Sage tells him rather timidly for her and gives him a quick peck on his cheek before bolting to the door, stopping at it and gets back to her domineering demeanor, telling him "Just because you got hurt, doesn't mean you can skip training tomorrow, got it?"

"Roger that, Sage." Zoro replies, emphasizing her name.


	3. Chapter 3

|the next day|

To start the next day off The Phoenix Squad shows Arc their club room until the students get called to knight school via horn.

While they are showing Arc their room Sage and Buttercup, go to their clubroom to wake up Zoro.

When the two of them enter the room they see Zoro lying on the same couch they left him yesterday, still topless.

"Zoro, get up. We have to get to knight school." Sage says walking over to the sleeping teen but Zoro continues sleeping.

"Maybe we have to be louder. Wake up!" Buttercup shouts, standing right next to him.

"Nothing, what's with him? Is he sick or something because of his injuries?" Sage asks, poking the teen.

Zoro shoots up and draws one of his swords while getting into a defensive position.

He then opens his eyes and sees Sage and Buttercup standing there with their hands raised in a surrendering gesture.

"Oh, it's you guys. Sorry." Zoro apologizes and yawns while putting away his sword.

"What was up with that? First you don't wake up with Butt yelling in your ear and then you shoot up ready to kill us." Sage asks him worried.

"When I was sleeping in the woods I had to be ready to defend myself even when I was sleeping." Zoro explains.

"Makes sense. Anyways, we gotta go to knight school, so put on a shirt and lets go." Sage says, throwing him a shirt.

"Yeah, yeah." Zoro grumbles and gets dressed, putting his swords into his haramaki.

"So, anything special happening today?" He asks the two girls as they make their way out of their club room.

"We don't know yet. We'll have to wait and see what Sir Gareth has planned." Sage tells him.

"Alright." Zoro replies.

"Oh, here by the way. I got what you asked for." Sage says, stopping them and takes his arm, tying his bandana around it so their emblem is visible.

"Thanks, looks good don't you think?" Zoro asks, flexing his arm.

"Sure does." Buttercup says, excited by his physique.

"Yeah it fits you. And now you're a full-fledged member of the Kraken Squad." Sage tells him.

The three of them then reach the courtyard and meet up with Lucky when Sir Gareth calls for everyone's attention.

"Gather round. Kraken Squad, Unicorn Squad, Phoenix Squad as you know only the best Squad in knight school will become knights. And to help decide I'm proud to announce the annual Roxbury cup." Sir Gareth tells them, revealing a golden cup from under a blanket, making everyone but Zoro, look at it excited.

"the competition is held in honor of the great Sir Roxbury, who saved Astoria from the great Ocean Hag infestation. Which really wasn't all that great by the way. You have until tomorrow, who will compete to win the cup." Sir Gareth tells them and accidentally knocks over the cup, catching it rather unceremoniously while it was falling and then leaves.

"Geese, how will we ever decide…" Buttercup says but Sage cuts her off, stepping forward and saying "I'm doing it."

"Uh, Are you sure? Cause Ciara beats you all the time. And then I have to cheer you up with my happy dance." Buttercup tells her, dancing around on the spot.

"I was the best in knight school before Ciara showed up, maybe if I beat her in front of the whole castle everyone will know how great I am." Sage says, shooting a glance over at Zoro, who notices this.

And then I can do my happy dance too." Sage continues and starts to slide from side to side with her spear in her hand.

"Haha, that looks the same as your mean dance." Buttercup tells her laughing.

"What do you think Zoro, who should compete for us?" Buttercup asks.

"I don't even know what the competition is like." Zoro replies with a shrug.

"Basically one of us will have to chase a witch around the castle and catch her with a net, but she can teleport so it's hard to actually catch up to her." Lucky explains.

"I see. And what's the problem with Sage competing for us?" Zoro asks.

"Well Ciara beat her every time ever since she entered knight school." Buttercup says, pointing over at the girl he saw changing into the princess yesterday.

"Well, there is no way I am competing, so I say Sage gives it a go." Zoro tells them, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Why won't you compete? Are your injuries worse than we thought?" Sage asks him worried about him.

"No, I just don't feel like running after some old woman for no reason." Zoro tells her.

"Oh, good." Sage sighs relieved.

"Stop worrying about me woman, I should have proven I'm more than able to take care of myself." Zoro tells her, thinking she's underestimating him.

"Really? Which way is the Tasty Trunk?" Sage challenges him, having noticed his lack of sense of direction.

"That way." Zoro tells her confidently but is actually pointing at the castle.

"That's the castle dummy. Anyways, I'm just trying to take care of my team members, I am the leader after all." Sage tells him.

"Hmpf." Zoro grunts in acceptance.

"So, Sage will compete?" Buttercup asks.

"Yes." Sage tells her decidedly.

Sage moves aside for a bit, to ponder her next step, when Zoro stands right behind her and gets her attention, patting her shoulder.

"If you want, I can show you a trick or two." Zoro offers.

"I thought you only fight with Swords and not with nets." Sage says challenging him.

"Yes, but I've fought against my fair chair of magical beings and weapons, so I may be able to give you some pointers." Zoro explains.

"Thanks." Sage says.

"Alright, what do you know about that witch?" Zoro asks.

"If it's the same as every time she'll have her powers through a shell necklace." Sage tells him.

"Hmm, I met two people who used those. Let's go to our club room." Zoro tells them and the four of them go back to their club room.

Once there Zoro goes over to the shelf and gets his magic bag, getting patted on the head by the Octopus's tentacle happily.

Zoro goes over to the couch he previously slept on and sits down, putting the bag in his lap with Sage sitting next to him and Buttercup and Lucky across from them.

"Let's see." Zoro mumbles and looks through his bag with Sage observing it from the side, trying to peek into the magic storage unit.

"Ah there." Zoro says and gets out a climpering necklace.

"What you have one too?" Sage asks him stupefied.

"Yeah, but I can't use it very well." Zoro tells her, wrapping the necklace around his wrist.

"Ohh. Show us, show us." Buttercup says cheering him on.

"Ah why not." Zoro says and concentrates for a second, tryin to teleport two meters to the right but he ends up in the Octopus tank.

"Where did he go?" Lucky asks as they look around, until they hear something knocking against their glass wall.

"Oh-oh." Sage says, looking at Zoro, who's in the Octopus tank. The Octopus is delighted by the visitor and starts to chase Zoro, who swims as fast as he can to not get crushed by the enormous Octopus. When he is swimming he concentrates, trying to teleport out of the tank and suddenly lands on the Kraken Squads coffee table.

"Ugh, I'm not using that thing again unless we're outside, with no lake nearby." Zoro tells them with a groan, while Buttercup claps her hands laughing "again."

"You OK?" Sage asks him, helping him off the table.

"Yeah, just soaked." Zoro says with a sigh.

"Anyways, come on. Let's train. Zoro tells her and the four of them go back to the knight school training court.

* * *

Once there, Zoro takes off his soaked shirt and shoes, putting them near the cliff, right next to where Buttercup is sitting, to watch the upcoming spectacle. Lucky left after Sage told him to scram.

"Ready?" Zoro asks her while the two girls ogle his topless form, unnoticed by him.

"Yeah." Sage replies, snapping herself back to reality and gets ready to catch him with her net.

"Go." Zoro says and Sage charges at him, trying to catch him by swinging the net sideways at him, but Zoro simply jumps over it and gives her a gentle push, making her tumble a step forward.

She turns around, intending to catch him but doesn't see him.

Buttercup points behind her and Sage turns back around, seeing Zoro standing on the walls of the stage, looking down at her, having taken a seat.

"Is that all you got?" Zoro asks the girl, smirking at her.

"I haven't even started." Sage replies and rushes at him again. The two of them continue this exchange for another ten minutes with Zoro dodging by teleporting or jumping and ducking her net.

"Come on Sage, what was all that mighty talk about beating Ciara?" Zoro taunts the girl, walking behind her calmly.

"Ahh, shut up. I'll get you. You'll see." Sage yells and runs at him again, throwing her net at him but Zoro simply dodges to the side and Sage jumps into him, knocking them over with her landing on him, straddling his waist.

"Hah. I told you I'd catch you." Sage yells triumphantly.

"That you did. Now, what are you going to do with me?" Zoro says with a grin.

"Wha…" Sage stammers surprised by the comment.

"Hah, that was hilarious, I'm guessing you rarely get pranked yourself huh?" Zoro asks her, getting up, while holding the girl close to him and letting her down once he's standing.

"You're lucky no one saw that." Sage says furiously and slaps him on his chest.

"Buttercup saw." Zoro whispers into her ear teasingly.

"Shut up." Sage yells embarrassedly and throws a shoe at him.

"Anyways, I think I should show you a move or two, which will make it easier to catch someone with such a necklace." Zoro tells her, putting the shoe back on the blushing girl.

"couldn't you have done that beforehand?" Sage asks him annoyed.

"What? I thought you wanted to prove yourself to me, at least it seemed that way earlier." Zoro says.

"Just show me the moves and never mention what happened to anyone." Sage warns him.

"Don't worry, I promise." Zoro says reassuring the girl.

Zoro then shows her a technique to distract the opponent and close the distance between them quickly and a way to get on high objectives faster, by using a wall or steep object as a jump off point.

When they are done with their training Sage is exhausted while Zoro is barely sweating and they make their way over to Buttercup, who in the meantime got them something to eat.

"Thanks Butt." Sage says accepting the drink from the girl.

"Thanks." Zoro says, taking his mug.

"So, what do you think are your chances of beating Ciara now?" Buttercup asks Sage happily.

"I'm going to stomp that little worm and then I'm getting pay back." Sage says, pointing at Zoro at the end.

"Bring it." Zoro challenges her with a smirk, liking her aggressive demeanor.

* * *

|The next day|

The Squads have gathered at the training yard to announce their competitor.

Warwick is talking to his little brother Fizzwick, who just got accepted as the knight school's janitor.

Warwick is talking to Prudy, worried that his lies are going to be revealed soon but she tells him that he's getting better everyday. Warwick tries to pull out his sword and do a trick to reassure himself but the sword flies out of his hand, headed right for the Kraken Squad, Sage to be exactly. Zoro sees the sword flying at her and catches it by the hilt, stopping it about a foot away from Sage's chest and quickly throws it back at Warwick's feet with enough strength to pierce through the floor and let the sword stick out by its hilt only.

"Wha…" Warwick stammers stunned while Sage thanks Zoro, brushing over his arm relieved.

Warwick tries to pull out the sword but it doesn't budge.

Prudy, could you, give it a little giant strength?" Warwick asks his teammate, who grasps the sword and gets it out of the floor with much difficulty.

"Man that was hard, who is that guy?" Prudy asks, looking at Zoro wearily, who's eyeing them to asses their threat.

"Next time be careful where you throw that thing." Zoro warns Warwick, making the teen nod positive furiously.

"Students, it's time to find out who will compete in the Roxbury cup." Sir Gareth announces and gets on the stage, right next to the crystal.

"First up, Kraken Squad." He says. Sage walks up to the Crystal and pushes down on it with a grin.

"Kraken Squad's choice is Sage." Sir Gareth says.

"Welcome to the Age of Sage." Sage says.

"Yeah, she's done embarrassing herself." Buttercup says.

"Next, Phoenix Squad." Sir Gareth says and a music starts to play with Arc dancing around, having won a coin flip to decide between him and Ciara for who will compete.

"What you're sitting this out? I need to take you down, not some chump doing a funky griffin." Sage tells Ciara annoyed.

"Sage, mind your own business." Ciara tells her.

"Oh, I know what's going on. You let Arc compete because you know I'm finally going to beat you. Loser." Sage says knowingly, while leaning on her practice staff.

"Oh, you want a loser, you got a loser. That cam out wrong." Ciara yells riled up and pushes the Crystal.

"Phoenix Squad`s choice is Ciara." Sir Gareth announces.

"What?" Arc asks shocked.

"Next time use a shorter intro song, just tighten it." Sir Gareth advises.

"I'm so sorry Arc. Sage said things and I kinda just lost my mind. You get that right?" Ciara apologizes.

"I get that you stole my spot. You know, I really wanted this, why do you always have to win?" Arc asks her disappointed.

"I don't, I just always have to not lose." Ciara replies.

"Well it's about time someone taught you that winning isn't everything and that someone is me." Arc tells her and leaves, dancing to another song.

Later that day Arc invites the princess to watch the cup in front of the King and he orders her to attend.

Arc then gets told that Ciara can't drop out of the challenge or she'd be kicked out of knight school, so she and Arc come up with a plan where she goes into a closed tent, pretending to be sick, to watch the competition but sneaks out, transforming back into Ciara and competing in the cup while Arc stands guard at the tent.

* * *

|Roxbury Cup|

After the princess went into the tent Sir Gareth announces the beginning of the competition.

"To begin, let`s welcome Sage from the Kraken Squad." Sir Gareth announces, handing the girl a net while everyone applauds.

"I knew you'd win Sage, happy dance." Buttercup cheers.

"She`s not even started yet, Buttercup." Zoro tells her, pulling the girl back to the sidelines.

"Nigel from Unicorn Squad." Sir Gareth continues and hands him the net.

"And for Phoenix Squad, Ciara." Sir Gareth says and Ciara jumps out from behind the tent.

"I'm here." She tells him and he hands her a net.

"For this years competition we'll be playing capture the hag." Sir Gareth announces and a old witch appears with a puff.

"Hahaha, fyi I'm the Hag." The old wrinkled woman says pointing at herself.

"This is a full contact battle, the first student to capture the hag in his net wins the cup. Begin." Sir Gareth says and the three competitors run towards the witch, who jumps of her place on a railing and runs away, through the castle with everyone going after her.

A while later the witch runs back into the courtyard where everyone is waiting and the three fight to be the first to capture her.

Ciara and Nigel start to fight for a net, because Ciara dropped hers and Nigel manages to throw her off the net but Sage sees her opportunity and steps on the stick of the net, disqualifying him.

"Nigel's out. It's down to Sage and Ciara. Sir Gareth announces and the two girls run a the witch.

Suddenly the King shows up at the tent and asks to see his daughter. Arc refuses to let him in to keep Ciara's cover and the King orders his guards to arrest him.

Meanwhile at the competition Sage managed to corner the witch and jumps at her, snatching the necklace from her. The hag runs away from Sage and gets cornered against a wall, with Ciara and Sage having her trapped, fighting eachother. Sage manages to throw Ciara down and Ciara sees Arc being arrested by the guards, and jumps over a wall to change into the princess and help her friend while Sage captures the witch with the move Zoro showed her, she throws her net to the side and jumps against a wall in the same direction she threw is and catches the net again, leaping off the wall right at the hag.

"Oh, you've captured the Hag." The witch says disappointed.

"Sage wins the Roxbury cup." Sir Gareth announces.

"Buttercup, I win. I beat Ciara. Happydance!" The girls says excitedly, dancing with her best friend with the cup in her hand.

"Nice move at the end, wonder where you got that." Zoro tells Sage with a smirk.

"Thanks." Sage tells him pecking his cheek quickly, making many amongst the crowd gasp at seeing Sage be nice to someone other than her best friend.

"Oh shut up!" She yells at them angrily.

Meanwhile Ciara stops the guards from arresting Arc.

* * *

Sage then moves over to a wall, having hidden a bucket of water there and fills the cup, unnoticed by everyone. She goes back to her Squad and throws the cup to Zoro, giving it a spin while yelling "catch." Zoro catches the cup and gets soaked by the water.

"I told you I'd get you back." Sage tells him triumphantly while everyone is laughing at him.

"Alright, I deserved that." Zoro agrees and throws the cup back over to her.

"Competition is over, Kraken Squad has won. You can go back to doing whatever you were doing before." Sir Gareth announces to the crowd and leaves.

"Tasty Trunk for a victory feast?" Sage suggests and Buttercup agrees happily, same as Lucky and Zoro tells her "I'll catch up to you guys, once I've changed my shirt, again!"

The three Kraken squad member then head to the Tasty Trunk where they chat and eat together, while waiting for Zoro. Lucky leaves relatively quickly after being made fun of by Sage, leaving only the two girls of the Squad.

Behind their table Prudy and Warwick have taken their seats, after Warwick convinced Fizzwick of his awesome skill after taking out a monster accidentally by throwing his blade at a tree and felling a branch right on top of its head.

"Sage. I know I'm not the brightest person around but am I seeing things or is there something going on between you and our green-haired swordsman?" Buttercup asks her friend excitedly.

"What? No." Sage replies shocked, blushing a little.

"Come on, you can tell me. I promise I won't blurt it out this time." Buttercup begs her friend to tell her.

"Alright, I don't know. I mean I like him, but I'm not sure how he thinks of me. Our Squad might just be charity case for him, you know how strong he is." Sage tells her.

"So? Why not ask him about it?" Buttercup asks.

"About what? Why he joined our Squad?" Sage questions.  
"that, or if he likes you." Buttercup whispers with a huge grin.

"as if I'm some love-struck girl, the only thing on my mind is becoming a knight." Sage tells her.

"Are you sure about that? Remember I was there when you tackled him." Buttercup teases her friend with a chuckle.

"Never mention that again." Sage orders annoyed.  
"OK, but think about it, I think you'd make a great couple." Buttercup says. Meanwhile on the other table Prudy and Warwick stare at each other in silence having heard most of the conversation and whisper to each other "Sage actually like someone?"

"And it`s that new guy?" Warwick adds.

Soon after Zoro arrives at the Tasty Trunk and joins the two female's of his Squad.

"Lucky got scared away?" He asks them, receiving a nod positive from Sage.

"Hope you left some food for me, I'm starving." Zoro says and gets up to order some food.

As he stand up Sage watches him intensely, the conversation with Buttercup fresh in her mind.

"Hah, I knew it." Buttercup says triumphantly as she notices her friend stare at Zoro.

"Shut up, this is your fault. I was just OK with the two of us being friendly and pranking each other and now you have me thinking I'm crushing on the guy." Sage hisses at her friend.

Zoro comes over to the two with a tray full of food and sits down.

"What were you talking about?" He asks them curiously, having seen them whisper while he was ordering.

"Nothing, and certainly not you and…" Buttercup says and Sage covers her mouth with her hand before she blurts something out.  
"You were talking about me huh? Let`s make one thing clear, I'm not teaching anyone how to use three swords." Zoro tells them, obvious to the actual reason they were talking about him.

"I was wondering about that what's up with the third sword?" Sage asks him.

"I don't know, I just had the idea and got used to it." Zoro tells her with a shrug.

|later that day|

Zoro and Sage enter their club room with Buttercup having left, saying she has to help her mother.

"So, how's the search for a house going?" Sage asks him, sitting down on a chair.

"Want to get rid of me that fast huh?" Zoro asks her.

"No, I just thought I'd ask." Sage replies

"Well I actually found a place, I just need to go over there." Zoro tells her.

"Really? Where?" Sage asks curiously.

"It's just below the cliff at school. There were a few houses down there and I bought one." Zoro informs her.

"What? That's smack in the middle of the forest, you don't know what kind of beasts could show up there." Sage tells him concerned.

"I know, exciting right?" Zoro says with a grin.

"Sometimes I worry about your sanity." She tells him, shaking her head.

"By the way, do you mind if I take Kraken's portal bucket with me? It's a good guard against intruders and he seems to like me." Zoro asks Sage, while going over to the Bucket with a table and arm wrestling with the Octopus.

"Sure, we've got some spare ones." Sage tells him, looking at the scene amused, since she can see the Octopus through the window.

"So, what were you actually talking with Buttercup about at the Trunk?" He asks her, focusing on Sage while defeating the Octopus tentacle.

"Uhh, nothing." Sage lies unconvincingly.

"Do I need to whip out a truth serum or are you going to spill the beans, I mean you've been acting differently around me all afternoon." He tells her, walking over to her and sitting down across from her.

"OK fine. Buttercup said we'd make a cute couple and I just couldn't get it out of my head." Sage tells him with a blush.

"Hah, that was what you were so worried about?" Zoro asks amused.

"Sure, laugh at me, that'll help." Sage grumbles offended.

"Sorry, I just thought that it was obvious that I didn't join knight school just to challenge strong opponents." He tells her, looking directly at her, as she turns to look at him.

"What do you mean?" She asks.

"I joined because I thought you're beautiful and I liked you." Zoro tells her honestly, scratching his cheek embarrassedly.

"Wha… Buttercup was right?" Sage yells shocked.

"Yes, is that so surprising?" Zoro replies.

"Kinda. She's never right and no one likes me. Everyone hates me and thinks I'm evil." Sage tells him.

"Well I don't." Zoro tells her calmly.

"What does this mean?" Sage asks insecure.

"I don't know, you never told me what you think of me." Zoro shoots back.

"I, I don't know. Up till now I thought you were helping us out of pity." She tells him.

"Well I'm not." Zoro replies.

"Apparently. Look I think you're handsome and all, and I actually don't mind you, which is rare for me but I am in knight school to become a knight, not to chase after guys." She tells him.

"I see." Zoro says.

"Sorry but I need to stay focused on my goal." She tells him apologetically.

"So, once we graduate?" Zoro suggests with a smirk.

"Maybe? I don't know." She replies, surprised by him staying so calm.

"Good enough for me." Zoro tells her and gets up, collecting his bag.

"What? Are you leaving?" Sage asks worriedly.

"Don't worry princess, you`re not getting rid of me that easily. I'm moving into my new house." Zoro tells her as he gets the magic bucket and walks towards the door, stopping next to her and whispers into her ear "You`re welcome any time. Just be careful when waking me."

"So you're staying in Kraken Squad." Sage says relieved.

"Yeah, Just because you don't see this happening yet, doesn't mean I've given up on it." Zoro tells her pointing between the two of them.

"Plus, I'm a man of my word and I won't leave my Squad hanging." He tells her honestly.

* * *

AN: Review and let me know if you like it :)


	4. Chapter 4

Arc and the rest of phoenix squad are walking through the woods surrounding the castle looking for a good place to have a portrait made of them.  
When they find a good spot in front of a mountain Arc complains, that a boulder is ruining the picture so Prudy not being able to take his complaining anymore she throws the boulder away, opening an entrance to the lost cave of farts.  
From the cave the former phoenix squad member Jimbo appears, shocking them and the group leaves the forest to inform Sir Gareth of the news.

* * *

When they arrive at the training yard Jimbo hugs the control crystal, relieved that he's back there.

"Jimbo is that you? That is Jimbo. I told the King I didn't lose another student." Sir Gareth says, patting Jimbo's shoulder.

"Wait, how many students have you lost?" Arc questions but Sir Gareth sushes him.

"Jimbo, it's been months. What happened to you?" Sir Gareth asks him.

"I was going through the woods, picking fruit for a pie when I slipped and rolled downhill into a cave and a rockslide trapped me in." He explains.

"Hah!" Sage laughs in her trademark way.

"I mean, aww. Yeah no, I mean Hah!" Sage says, seeing the other student look at her funnily.

"How long did you look for me phoenix squad?" Jimbo asks his teammates.

"We searched everyday for weeks, we left no stone unturned, except that big stone you were trapped behind." Warwick tells him.

"Eventually we figured you followed your dreams to become a baker." Ciara says.

"No, I was just suffering alone in a really stinky cave." Jimbo replies.

"Hah! It just keeps getting better and better." Sage laughs.

"Well students, it is my pleasure to officially welcome Jimbo back into Phoenix Squad." Sir Gareth announces.

"What was that Buttercup? Knight school rules state that a Squad can only have four members." Sage says, pointing out the rule.

"No, I said Squirrels love hugs." Buttercup says with a laugh.

"Sage is correct, the Squad can only have four members." Sir Gareth says.

"Tough break Jimbo, at least you have Shielda." Arc tells him.

"Actually, since Jimbo was in Phoenix Squad first, he's in. You're out." Sir Gareth informs Arc, stunning the Phoenix Squad while Sage laughs again.

After learning that Arc will be kicked out of knight school the phoenix squad members decide to devise a plan to reinstate him and get their former teammate to drop out and follow his passion of baking. So they go to their club room, looking for Arc and find him saying his goodbye to their hangout to tell him not to do something rash and overreact.

* * *

|Tasty Trunk|  
Arc comes into the restaurant and goes to the counter to order something when he sees his Squad mates complimenting Jimbo.

"How about this Arc, our squad has a free position, Lucky is dropping out right?" Sage says coming over to him, while intimidating her dreadlocked teammate.

"You want me to join Kraken squad? Why would I ever do that?" Arc questions.

"Because think about it, with you in our squad we'll be unbeatable."  
Sage tells him.

"No, no the others told me that they are working on getting me back on phoenix squad"

"Really? Then why are they doing the cupcake dance with your replacement." Sage says pointing at the group dancing together and hugging each other afterwards.

"What? Oh no! That's it, I'm joining Kraken squad." Arc says angered.

"Good." Sage says rubbing her hands mischievously.

"Why do you want him on the team?" Zoro asks the raven haired girl, pulling her aside.

"Because with Arc out of phoenix squad no one can stop us anymore." Sage answers.

"Do you trust me so little to think that you still need an edge over them?" Zoro asks disappointed.

"No of course not, but I want us to be the strongest possible squad and Arc is way better than Lucky." Sage explains.

"But teamwork wouldn't work at all." Zoro warns her.

"What makes you say that?" Sage asks genuinely surprised.

"Well for one Arc will try to take your spot. And he will be angry that he doesn't come near my level of skill. Really the only one he'd get along with is Buttercup." Zoro informs her, mumbling "and I don't want him to try to impress you."

"Well we'll see now won't we?" Sage says, sticking to her decision, making Zoro scoff annoyed and leave the restaurant to go to his usual sleeping spot.

* * *

Not long after he went to take a nap at the cliff at knight school Sage and Buttercup show up with Arc and one of the portal buckets.

"Now for our entrance ceremony. Look into the bucket." Sage says ceremoniously while she and Buttercup are wearing red cloaks, having thrown one over the still sleeping swordsman snoring away.

"Huh, what's so interesting about a bucket?" Arc asks, stepping closer to it.

"Just do it!" Sage groans annoyed, secretly giving Zoro a glance to see if he's angry with her or really sleeping.

"Alright, alright." Arc says and looks into the bucket, promptly getting slapped in the face by a tentacle.

"Whoa." Arc says shocked as he shrieks back.

"Now it's time for the flaming spear ceremony." Butter cup says cheerfully.

"Come again?" Arc says scared.

"Don't worry. I'll call you when they're hot and poky." Buttercup tells him and skips away giggling, accidentally bumping into Zoro and wakes him.

"Huh?" Zoro wakes up ready to draw his sword and looks around, seeing Sage in her traditional Kraken squad attire with Arc wearing a Kraken squad shoulder guard.

"Really? You didn't listen to my advice at all?" Zoro asks disappointed.

"Look, we need him in our squad." Sage tells him.

"If you really think so, then I guess I must be in the wrong squad." Zoro says.

"What are you talking about?" Sage asks shocked.

"I'm saying I quit Kraken Squad, so go ahead and take Lucky back." Zoro says.

"What?!" Sage screams shocked.

"What was all this about I am a man of my words and stick to my squad?" Sage asks him accusingly, quoting him.

"I gave you a choice, inviting Arc in the squad was your decision." Zoro replies.

"Hah, go ahead and drop out then, we will manage without you." Sage tells him pissed off.

"Uhh, what is going on?" Arc asks confused.

"Shut up." Sage warns him and Arc backs off.

"Looks like you've made your decision." Zoro says and hops over the cliff.

"Where did Zoro go? We're about to poke Arc." Buttercup asks disappointed, arriving with a spear.

* * *

Arc goes into the phoenix squad room, looking for his stuff and steals Prudy's ribs, hiding when someone enters the room while eating the food. Jimbo enters the room and tells his shield that he plans to trap phoenix squad in the cave of farts as revenge. Jimbo then knocks out Arc with a gas from the cave and chains him up in the very same cave he was trapped in for months. He lets phoenix squad know where Arc is and once they are in the cave Jimbo traps them in the cave by causing a rockslide to block the entrance.

* * *

Phoenix Squad manages to escape after a while, when Ciara has the idea to use a gyser to shoot them out of the cave. The phoenix Squad lands on the training field and reveal Jimbo's plan to Sir Gareth, who throws him out of the knight school and arrests him.

"Great now we're a man short." Sage scoffs when Arc changes his shoulder pad back to phoenix squad.

"Why, won't Zoro come back?" Buttercup asks.

"I don't think so." Sage replies, thinking back to Zoro's hurt expression as well as him telling her his feelings for her.

"I really screwed up on this one didn't I Butt." Sage says saddened.

"Uhh... , Hey Kraipan is still free." Buttercup says hoping to avoid the topic of a certain green haired ex team member for her friends sake.

"Krainpan! You're back in." Sage yells at the frightened boy standing by himself.

"Yay!" He cheers, high fiving Lucky.

* * *

|Meanwhile at Zoro's new place|

"Man I guess I shouldn't have gotten so angry at her, but it just didn't sit right by me that she went over my head to invite Arc, despite me telling her not to." Zoro says to himself, the only other living thing being the octopus separated by the bucket portal. The Octopus pats Zoro's head to cheer him up and Zoro soon falls asleep.

Two hours later Zoro wakes up with a jolt as Sage stomps into his house after throwing the door open.  
"I swear, he better be in this one. If I see one more dwarf family I'm gonna kill someone." Sage fumes and looks around the house.

"Zoro, you in here? This is the 8th house I've gone to, please tell me you're in here." Sage says exhausted.

"Yeah yeah, I'm here, what do you want?" Zoro asks coming around a corner, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"I wanted to apologize and to tell you that you don't need to rejoin Kraken, Kraipan is back in." Sage tells him.

"So that's it? After personally recruiting me you think you're better off with Kraipan?" Zoro asks her, hurt by the decision.

"Look, it's better this way. You get to wander around collecting bounties again and I won't get distracted by whatever is happening between us." Sage explains.

"You really don't get me at all do you?" Zoro says.

"Fine, I'm off Kraken squad, but don't think I'm just leaving. Because I still haven't given up on what could happen between us." Zoro tells her decisively.

"So what, you'll just hang around the school like some weirdo?" Sage asks.

"I guess we'll find out tomorrow, won't we?" Zoro tells her with a triumphant smirk at seeing her confused look.

"Do what you want." Sage shouts, leaving his house and slamming the door behind her.

After Sage left Zoro goes to the Tasty Trunk, knowing he will find Sir Gareth there around this time.

"Ah Sir Gareth,I've been looking for you." Zoro says.

"Zoro, I'm sorry I can't meddle in the squad's business." Sir Gareth tells him.

"No no, I don't want you to put me in another squad. I want to join you in training the squads." Zoro informs him.

"Well that I didn't expect, but I guess another instructor wouldn't hurt." Sir Gareth agrees, thinking about Zoro's raw fighting stength.

"Great." Zoro says, smiling devilishly.

"Oh and one more thing." Zoro says and puts his arm around the man's neck, tilting it back and yanks out the tooth troubling him.

"Wow, you got it out. Hah, thanks." Sir Gareth thanks him, patting his newly appointed instructor's back.

* * *

|the next day- training yard|

The teams have gathered at the stage because Sir Gareth wants to make an announcement.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Sage says ominously.

"Did you eat some of that apple pie too?" Buttercup asks her, looking rather uncomfortable.

"No, never mind are you OK?" Sage asks her best friend.

"Quiet. I have an announcement to make. Meet your new sword fighting instructor." Sir Gareth announces and Zoro comes onto the stage, wearing his bandanna on his head inside out so the Kraken logo is hidden.

"What, no fair." Ciara complains when the ex-Kraken Squad member appeared.

"Quiet." Zoro bellows at them, shutting everyone up.

"While I was part of the Kraken Squad that won't influence my teaching. Everyone willing to put in the work will be trained to the fullest extend." Zoro promises them.

"Now for your first class, what is your assignment?" Sir Gareth asks.

"Everyone start with one on one spars, using only swords." Zoro tells them and the unicorn Squad as well as Kraipan complain.

Zoro takes out his three swords and slashes in a circle, making everyone look at him like he's crazy until they see a deep slash at the Unicorn's squad an Kraipan's feet.

This shuts them up quickly and everyone scatters to get a training sword. 5 minutes later everyone is sparring with someone, using only their swords when Zoro stops them, yelling "Take a break. I'm assigning you a sparring partner now and you will stick to this partner until I say otherwise."

He then taps something into the control pad of the crystal and a list appears on the screen behind him:  
Sage - Arc  
Buttercup - Warwick  
Lucky - Prudy  
Ciara - Zoro  
Kraipan gets put against a unicorn member while the other three have a threeway battle.

Sage wants to complain that Ciara is matched against Zoro but one quick look from him shuts her up, seeing complete seriousness in his eyes.  
"Hah take that Sage!" Ciara says triumphantly to the fuming Kraken squad leader.

"Shut up and come at me." Zoro tells her, standing in a corner of the training field.

"Don't you need a weapon?" Ciara asks.

"For you? Do you have a death wish?" Zoro replies.

"Alright, here I go." Ciara says and dashes at Zoro, her sword ready to strike. Once she is in range she slashes downwards, aiming for his shoulder, but Zoro simply turns to the side, making her tumble forward at her missed hit. Zoro hits her wrist, knocking the sword out of her grasp and locks one of her arms behind her before pushing her away.

"Again!" Zoro instructs, kicking the sword over to the girl. Ciara picks it up and attacks him low, aiming for his knees. Zoro bends the targeted leg and trusts downwards, hitting the side of the blade, once again knocking it out of her hand.

"Damn" Ciara curses, getting angry at the green haired fighter just playing with her.

"Stay calm and try again." Zoro instructs, crossing his arms over his chest. Ciara charges him again, this time jumping to strike him but Zoro just catches her midair, letting the smaller girl dangle from her sword-wielding arm.

"I said calm down!" Zoro almost hisses, keeping the girl inches away from his face.  
He lets go of her arm and takes two steps back before saying "come." This time Ciara tries another approach and just gets into a defensive stance, making Zoro raise an eyebrow at the action.

"Interesting, but not what I am expecting." Zoro says and slowly walks over to her and quickly kicks out her legs from under her.

"Plus your defense sucks." Zoro taunts and goes back to his position.

"Ah that's it. You're just picking on me because of Sage. Sir Gareth do something." Ciara complains.

"Am I now? OK then, I guess we won't go in order then, Sage switch with Ciara." Zoro tells them.

"What, I was just getting close to beating this punk." Sage whines.

"Shut up and come at me." Zoro orders while Ciara and Arc start to do some light sparring.

"What's up Sage, it's your turn. I thought you didn't need me in the squad anymore so I assume you can beat me." Zoro taunts her.

"Just tell the truth, you just couldn't stay away from me." Sage return and is only met by silence. Sage smirks triumphantly and slowly edges closer to Zoro, her sword skills being a bit rusty.

"What's this? The mighty Sage is afraid to come close to me?" Zoro says with a dwvilish grin.

"Ah screw it." Sage says and leaps a step forward and stabs at him. Zoro leans to the side to dodge and grabs her arm with his hands, jerking the blade into his hand and pointing it at her chin.

"You're better at keeping calm, but you need more focus." Zoro advises and lets go of her arm, holding out the sword to her.

"My my, the two of us keeping calm, wouldn't that be a first. With how things are hanging in the air between us..." Sage sighs but gets ready non the less. Zoro suddenly attacks, pinning her arms over her head and leans in, whispering "I thought my intentions were clear. I want to go out with you, no matter how long it takes for you to come around." Zoro then releases her arms and moves back to his spot, giving her a reassuring smile before waving for her to come at him.

Sage lets out a breath of air she didn't even know she was holding and focuses on the task at hand. "Alright, no more small talk." Sage says and runs around Zoro, looking for a weak spot in his defense but the deadly look he's giving her tells her there is none.  
She changes her strategy and throws her sword at him, making him catch it in between his palms, slamming them together with enough force to shatter the wooden sword.

"Now we're getting somewhere." Zoro says, developing a blood lusting smile. Making everyone, whose attention shifted to him at the sound of the sword breaking gulp audibly. Meanwhile Sir Gareth looks at Zoro's teaching impressed and notes to himself to ask him to train some of the guards and ask if he can use other weapons.  
Sage after getting another Sword moves to attack again and uses her sword as a backhand weapon while trying to tackle him somehow but every time Sage enters his arm's reach she suddenly finds herself 3 feet away.

"The fuck?" Sage curses while everyone else started to observe their training.

"Alright, how about this?" Zoro says and has Sir Gareth tie his arms behind his back.

"Go." Zoro says and Sage rushes at him, only to jump sideways the last second and stabs at Zoro's neck, barely missing it. As soon as Sage lands she feels herself flying backwards however, due to Zoro rushing her and knocking her down with his shoulder. Sage gets up slowly, standing on wobbly legs and approaches Zoro, falling into a crouch when she's close and she tries to mirror his move but Zoro breaks his bindings and catches her in his arms, turning her to face the others.

" This is what I'm looking for. Adapting to a situation." Zoro tells the class.

"Alright, class is over. Anyone who wants to continue or challenge me feel free to stick around. I got nothing else to do today." Zoro instructs. Unicorn squad quickly hurries away and phoenix squad leaves as well to compare their thoughts on Zoro's teaching.  
Sage gathers the Kraken Squad and convinces the others to challenge Zoro as a team.

"Alright, Sir Gareth you up for being a referee?" Zoro asks the teacher.

"Sure" he responds and changes his metal hand to a whistle.

"Alright, you can use whatever weapons you like." Zoro tells them and picks up his three wooden practice swords.

"Start when you're ready." Zoro tells them and gets in a relaxed stance.

Sage informs her squad of the combination they're going to use. Once Sage and Lucky flank Zoro from one side, with Kraipan and Buttercup coming from the other side Sage gives her team a signal and they charge at Zoro, with the two shield wielding boys trying to force Zoro into a corner with Sage and Buttercup are trying to fight him by taking advantage of their staff weapons' reach.

The formation lasts for about three seconds until Zoro broke through the boys' defenses and holds the swords in his hands to the boys' necks.

"Lose." Zoro says, getting back in his relaxed stance.

Sage tells her team another formation to try, with Sage coming from the front, the boys from the side and Buttercup sneaking up on him.

Zoro glances around interested, but once the four slowly edged closer to him Zoro swirls his upperbody and arms around with a shout of "Tornado", creating a strong gust of wind throwing the teens into the air. Zoro jumps up to the two girls and grabs onto their waists, landing with a soft thud and two relieved girls under his arms while Kraipan got stuck in a tree and Lucky landed on the wall of the stage.

"What was that?" Sage asks impressed.

"A counterattack. I think we better leave it at this for now, Kraipan and Lucky are about to faint. Anyways, one thing you all should remember, never underestimate the enemy's capabilities without hard intel." Zoro says.

"OK, thanks I guess." Sage says and leaves with Buttercup, who gives Zoro a quick hug and tells him "I'm glad you decided to stay." with a laugh.

"So what'd you think Sir Gareth?" Zoro asks the teacher.

"I have to say, your training methods are interesting and seem promising. I'm glad to have you aboard. By the way, can you use any other weapons?" Sir Gareth asks.

"Hmm, a few why?" Zoro asks.

"Well I was hoping you could also teach them a bit on other weapons." Sir Gareth explains.

"How about this, I'll give you a list of the weapons I've mastered and for the other weapons you give me an instructor to help out with the technical stuff." Zoro suggests.

"Sounds good, but what is your objective by forcing the students to learn to use other weapons. It was tradition that everyone has a weapon of their choice to fight with.

"I know, but do you really think those Unicorn guys are fit to wield a hammer or swords?" Zoro asks the man doubtfully.

"You have a point." Sir Gareth agrees with a chuckle.

"Alright then, see you tomorrow." Sir Gareth tells him and leaves.

* * *

Zoro considers going home for a bit before he decides to go to Kraken Squad's room.

"Anyone there?" Zoro asks knocking on the door. He hears a chair shift and steps coming towards him.

Buttercup opens the door and Zoro enters the room, following the girl over to the couches, sitting down on the one across from the best friends.

"So, what was the deal with choosing Ciara over me?" Sage blurts out annoyed and confused.

"I just went by order, Ciara is better at using a sword than you." Zoro explains honestly.

"So you're telling me I suck?" Sage yells angrily.

"I just said that Ciara is better than you. You are the second best in class." Zoro informs her.

"Oh, OK then. But still why Ciara? I hate her guts and you have to go holding her close to you and stuff." Sage fumes.

"Oh, is that what this is about? Is the always work, no freetime Sage jealous?" Zoro asks challengingly.

"No, as if anyone would be jealous over you, you muscle freak." Sage shoots back.

"Anyways, I hope we can all still get along as good as before, it'd be a shame to lose the only two people close to me. That's all I came to say." Zoro tells them and gets up to leave.

"Oh and before I go, I meant what I said earlier Sage, and I really do hope you come around and see that things don't have to be all black and white or training and no training." Zoro tells her, looking into her eyes, before leaving the room and heading home.

"What was he talking about?" Buttercup asks intrigued, having grown to like their green haired sword fighter.

"It doesn't concern you." Sage replies defensively until she sees Buttercup's hurt expression.

"Alright, alright. He asked me out and is basically waiting for me to agree to date him, but I've told him before I don't have time for a romantic relationship." Sage explains to her best friend.

"Ohh, Sage has a boyfriend." Buttercup says happily, clapping her hands with the Octopus joining in.

"Stop it you two, you didn't understand a word I said, did you?" Sage yells, facepalming herself at her best friends ignorance.

* * *

AN: Let me know what you think, also Zoro will probably be rejoining Kraken Squad in a few chapters.


End file.
